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Lydney manager Mark Lee says it was an uphill battle against Highworth after the referee awarded a soft penalty early in the first half.

"I believe every side has one of those days a season were everything goes against you," said Lee.

"It seems to be perennially Highworth away for us. We went there with a game plan and 20 minutes into the game, I think the only person who has seen the incident is the referee, and he has given a penalty right in front of a load of their supporters.

"None of their players appealed for it, and he has given a penalty and they scored it. We had an uphill battle after that. In the last 20 minutes we performed really well. The lads that came on did exceptional, but the game was done by then.

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"In fairness to Highworth, they are a really good outfit. 50-60 per cent of their players were Southern League players last year or the year before, and they are very good. I'm not too disappointed with the score line as bizarre as that sounds. In the last 20 we got the ball down and played.

"George Burton came in for his debut in goal, and I couldn't fault him for any of the goals. It was just unfortunate that he came in on a bad night.

"As I said to the players, we have to move on now. That's gone and we learn from the couple of mistakes that we did make, and we focus on Tuffley on Saturday."

Ross Gabriel netted in the second half, and with the added pressure of top scorer Pete Macklin being sidelined with injury, Lee is hoping the form of Cheltenham Town loanee Josh Bennai will help take the burden off of Gabriel.